Have You Ever Read Some Murder Mysteries/Thrillers? What Are the Elements of a Murder Mystery? Do You Have Some Recommendations?

Answer 1

1.) Suspects who are all seemingly equally suspicious and/or guilty.

2.) Love interests that make things complicated.

3.) Red herrings that lead the readers astray.

4.) Clues that guide the reader in discerning the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” of a murder mystery novel.

5.) Police, detectives, lawyers, witnesses, alibis, unexplainable scenarios at first glance, cliffhangers, plot twists, and no plot holes.

6.) Writing vignettes, or bits and fragments of images, motives, experiences, ideas, interactions, etc. provides the reader with a sort of stream-of-consciousness retelling of events from a first-person narrator in many cases.

7.) Dialogue that seems to suggest ulterior motives, blurring of priorities and who is actually the villain, and so forth are all important factors.

Here are books that I read in my Third Thursday Thrillers book club sometime between Feb. 2019 - Feb. 2021. I am not able to be in the book club at the moment (Fall 2021) due to having classes that coincide with the meeting time/day. I may rejoin at a later date, in addition to making time for a book club at Montclair Community Library (a romance book club). Having a group is so important for one’s mental health, and I mostly enjoyed it. I just didn’t really read the books that thoroughly starting in September 2020 and onward due to having a busier university schedule. So, the ones that I didn’t really read thoroughly include The Eighth Sister and the ones after that in this list.

The Pardon

Muzzled

Relic

Hollow of Fear

The Woman in Cabin 10

Magpie Murders

Juror # 3

The Couple Next Door

Christmas Cake Murder

The Widows of Malabar Hill

The Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder

Faces of the Gone

Layover

The Eighth Sister

Case Histories

The Vanished Bride

Murder in Her Stocking

The Better Sister

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice: or on the Segregation of the Queen

Book Reviews:

Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz

Sir Magnus Pye dies due to Robert Blakiston, although Pye gave Blakiston his job. Physostigmine is the drug that is stolen by Clarissa Pye. Mary Blakiston is with Sir Magnus Pye, married. Mary Blakiston falls and dies in an accident. Dr. Redwing is the doctor. The real world of the Ivy Club has Alan Conway, an ill writer of the Atticus Pund series, who dies by Charles. Susan gets attacked by Charles, and her office is put aflame.

1. Sometimes, there is no murder—only deaths by accident. Fictional and nonfiction murders both can be just as tantalizing and suspenseful.

The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware

Aurora is the small ship, while Velocity is the company. Richard Bullmer, the owner, dies. Carrie is the killer. Anne Bullmer also dies. Laura Blacklock is the main character. She runs at one point. She gets services done – massage and manicure. She interviews all the cruise inhabitants, swearing she saw a murder (Pink Floyd T-shirt). Nillson, Judah Lewis (her lover), and Owen White are other characters.

1. The Aurora Borealis is a dazzling phenomenon, but this cruise ship is anything but dazzling. Doing the trivial things (i.e. massages, being with Judah, etc.) helps the narrator, Laura, do her sleuthing as effectively as possible. Her one descriptive remembrance, the Pink Floyd T-shirt, is her only lifeline in solving this mystery.

Juror #3, James Patterson and Nancy Allen

Ruby Bozarth is the main character. It’s a criminal case. She represents Darrien Summers in the Rosedale town, Williams County in Mississippi. Continuance is denied, but compel discovery is granted. Suzanne helps her with getting nice clothes, obtaining precise legal info, and by being friendly overall. Later, they’re on the same team. Julie Shaw dies in this case. Her phone exhibit rings. It is Juror # 3’s. He leaves and in his car is the Mardi Gras mask. He’s at the diner (knife is in the ceiling panels). Later the case is in Vicksburg, but it gets relocated to their county. Lee Greene Jr. is who she later defends. Detective Guion dies, Ruby’s star witness. Lee had sex with Cary Reynolds’ date for a school event. Cary is a male straight character, so Lee is a straight man. Lee is not guilty, and he proposes to Ruby.

1. Two cases with just as much excitement. Suzanne is the perfect minor character, as she helps the story progress through her keen eye and helpful hand.

The Couple Next Door, Shari Lapena

Graham and Cynthia are married, while Marco and Anne are married. Cora is taken. Detective Rasbach is hired. Cora is Marco and Anne’s baby.

Cynthia and Marco touched the night she was taken. Taken out the back door. Media is there. $3 million will be given to the kidnapper if the baby is returned. Anne studied at St. Mildred's and Cornell. They go to the station. A green onesie is found at their house, and the kidnapper then asks for a $5 million ransom. Derek Honig was killed by Marco. Derek Honig was holding Cora hostage due to Richard’s directions. Cynthia shows Marco first, then Anne the video, proving who the real culprit for the kidnapping is. Marco lied and wanted money, as he didn’t give Derek the ransom money. Alice and Richard are Anne’s parents. Alice is the rich one in all of this, so Richard and Marco both wanted Alice’s money.

Husband Richard knows it was Marco who killed Derek, since Marco took Derek’s phone. Alice hired a new detective and found this out: Richard is with Cynthia. Anne then kills Cynthia.

1. Whenever money is involved, anyone can be a suspect. The lengths that Marco went to get the ransom is incomprehensible. Alice is the wealthy one in the relationship, so she and Anne were being duped by Cynthia, Richard, and Marco. Cynthia was in a licentious relationship with both Richard and Marco, while being married faithlessly with Graham.

Christmas Cake Murder, Joanne Fluke

Michelle is the youngest daughter, Andrea the middle sister (married to the deputy/sheriff), and Hannah the main character. Annie is a Psychology Ph.D. Delores, the mother of Michelle, Andrea, and Hannah, is sad because her husband dies. Grandma Knudson. Delores is persuaded to do a Christmas Cake Ball. Essie is a writer. Hannah buys a café/bakery with her father’s investment money. Many recipes with or without ice cream are mentioned. Essie is shot, and Hannah throws cakes at the perpetrator. Annie is Essie’s daughter. Predictable that when the lights went out, someone would get shot. But who would get shot wasn’t.

1. It’s a innocuous book at first glance, and a bit of a humorous book, too. Still, the plot twist of realizing that Annie is Essie’s daughter proves too sad to comprehend. Yet, of course, Essie survives the shot.